Bookshops

Yesterday I discovered le Cochon Bleu in Lectoure (South West France) which brilliantly combines two of my favourite pleasures in life eating(and drinking) and reading. We went there with some friends and while I was eating an excellent maigret de canard I was in touching distance of shelves of books. I could not see any evidence of gravy/sauce stains on the book covers, but I did wonder. We were invited and so our friends paid for the meal and I bought books for everyone.

Most of the spines of French books are white or of one colour - I am thinking of sandstone (I don't know what the official colour for Gallimard is) the red flashes usually indicate a prize winner or a scholars edition. The overall feeling of whiteness and brightness gives this shop a pleasing ambience.

However most science fiction and crime novels are multicoloured and so you can tell at a glance where they are kept. I am just starting to enjoy myself in French bookshops, but I have little knowledge of the publishing houses.